Embarking on their earlier successful attempt with the 28-45mm wideangle zoom, the
untiring effort by Nikon's optical engineers has ensured debut of another remarkable
zoom lense that almost reached ultra-wideangle range at 24mm. The Zoom-Nikkor 25-50mm
f/4.0 lense provides a pronounced ultra-wideangle picture coverage to focal length
of standard lense, making it a very useful and practical zoom lense for a wide varieties
of pictorial usage.

As both the
wideangle zoom lenses have a almost overlapping zoom range, it was also aimed to
replace the earlier Zoom-Nikkor
28-45mm f/4.0
lense. This solidly made Nikkor zoom has a picture coverage that ranges from a useful
80°40' wideangle to 47° 50' normal and it adopts a Tri-control rings design
(one for focusing, while remaining one are for zooming and aperture control). An
interesting aspect of the design of this lense is, most successful wide to normal
Nikkor zoom lenses introduced during period of time were in favour of multiple control
rings while Nikon's next equivalent version wide-to-normal Nikkor zoom lense, Zoom-Nikkor
28mm-50mm f/3.5
of 1984 used a different single push and pull design.

Naturally, it can be either
a hate-or-love relationship and/or personal preference. However, undoubtedly, rotating
zoom does offer a more rigid feel in handling while on the other hand, its main advantage
is, separate zoom and focusing rings let you zoom the lens without accidentally changing
the focus.

Further, the
lense provides a generous six-in-row rectangular rubberized texture grip for slip-free
focusing, and as you get more familiar in using the lense, the three logically positioned
independent rings for focusing, zooming and aperture setting which each has a different
feel of its grip and position will not confuse a photographer during shooting, So,
the photographer may not even have to divert his attention away from the eyepiece
for visual checking.

Employing an
even more complex optical design of 11 elements in 10 groups than earlier counterpart,
its immediate benefit is to ensure common optical aberrations such as distortion
and aberration which closely associated with such lens type be well corrected optically
The superior optical design used may has contributed to its superb picture quality
. While many Nikon users claiming performance of this lense are comparable to performance
of fixed focal length lenses. Well, although comments can be very subjective but
such kind of positive remarks reflects how well this zoom lense has been valued by
Nikon photographers who may find it beneficial to their individual needs. The wideangle
setting make this lens particularly well suited for industrial shootings, tight interiors,
PR, candids, portraits of people in their surroundings, full-length portraits, landscapes,
travel photography, and photography in general.

This lovely
Nikkor zoom lense can focuses down to 0.6m (2 ft.) but it has a 72mm filter attachment
size which made it less appealing in particular be able to share many common lens
accessories in the Nikon system. It weights considerably at 600g but the weight factor
adds a top quality feel while Its overall built quality is excellent, making it a
good consideration for those who are looking for a capable and easy to use wideangle
zoom. The slight increase in its lens speed as compared with earlier version was
a good gesture from Nikon but it is still fell short to be considered as an all rounder
optic especially in situations where shooting low available light photography is
required. However, with today's modern film types, this could well offset the negative
aspect of the lens in this area. Well, this Nikkor zoom didn't come cheaply during
those days and it was one of the main reason why I have to be so patience waiting
for a cheaper entry with the followed Zoom-Nikkor 25-50mm f/3.5s in 1984. Whatever
it is, I think main strength of this zoom is still confined to its very useful zoom
range and its overall high optical performance offers which made this lens so well
received among Nikon photographers over all these years.

As this lense
was only being introduced in 1979 and thus, there wasn't a Non-Ai version available
thus far and so, you can safely look at the used market without fearing any possible
incompatibility used with any Ai Nikon body. Nikon provided a meter coupling prong
which stands atop of the aperture ring and if you intend to use it with any Non-Ai
Nikon camera model, stopped down metering should be used instead in exposure measurement.
In 1981, this high quality Nikkor wideangle zoom lense was converted to an Ai-S lens
coupling system. Other than that, there was not significant physical differences
nor in its optical composition between the Ai and Ai-S versions.

Credit: MCLau®, who has helped to rewrite
some of the content appeared this site. Chuck Hester® who has been helping
me all along with the development of all these Nikon websites;LarsHolst Hansen, 'Hawkeye'
who shares the same passion I have; Ms Rissa, Sales manager
from Nikon Corporation Malaysia for granting permission to use some of the official
content; TedWengelaar,Holland
who
has helped to provide many useful input relating to older Nikkor lenses; Some of the references
on production serial numbers used in this site were extracted from Roland Vink's website; HiuraShinsaku from Nikomat
Club Japan. Lastly,
to all the good people who has contributed their own expeience, resources or kind
enough granted permission to use their images of their respective optic in this site.
It is also a site to remember a long
lost friend
on the Net.Note:certain content and
images appeared in this site were either scanned from official marketing leaflets
& brochures published by Nikon and/or contribution from surfers who claimed originality
of their work for educational purposes. The creator of the site will not be responsible
for may discrepancies arise from such dispute except rectifying them after verification."Nikon", "Nikkormat", "Nippon Kokagu
KK"
& "Nikkor" are registered
tradename of Nikon Corporation Inc., Japan. Site made with an Apple IMac.